Venezuela’s Socialism…And Ours

by | Oct 1, 2018 | Headline News | 29 comments

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    This article was originally published by Ron Paul at the Ron Paul Institute

    This week we witnessed the horrible spectacle of Nikki Haley, President Trump’s Ambassador to the United Nations, joining a protest outside the UN building and calling for the people of Venezuela to overthrow their government.

    “We are going to fight for Venezuela,” she shouted through a megaphone, “we are going to continue doing it until Maduro is gone.”

    This is the neocon mindset: that somehow the US has the authority to tell the rest of the world how to live and who may hold political power regardless of elections.

    After more than a year of Washington being crippled by evidence-free claims that the Russians have influenced our elections, we have a senior US Administration official openly calling for the overturning of elections overseas.

    Imagine if President Putin’s national security advisor had grabbed a megaphone in New York and called for the people of the United States to overthrow their government by force!

    At the UN, Venezuela’s President Maduro accused the Western media of hyping up the crisis in his country to push the cause for another “humanitarian intervention.” Some may laugh at such a claim, but recent history shows that interventionists lie to push regime change, and the media goes right along with the lies.

    Remember the lies about Gaddafi giving Viagra to his troops to help them rape their way through Libya? Remember the “babies thrown from incubators” and “mobile chemical labs” in Iraq? Judging from past practice, there is probably some truth in Maduro’s claims.

    We know socialism does not work. It is an economic system based on the use of force rather than economic freedom of choice. But while many Americans seem to be in a panic over the failures of socialism in Venezuela, they don’t seem all that concerned that right here at home President Trump just signed a massive $1.3 trillion dollar spending bill that delivers socialism on a scale that Venezuelans couldn’t even imagine. In fact this one spending bill is three times Venezuela’s entire gross domestic product!

    Did I miss all the Americans protesting this warfare-welfare state socialism?

    Why all the neocon and humanitarian-interventionist “concern” for the people of Venezuela? One clue might be the fact that Venezuela happens to be sitting on the world’s largest oil reserves. More even than Saudi Arabia. There are plenty of countries pursuing dumb economic policies that result in plenty of suffering, but Nikki and the neocons are nowhere to be found when it comes to “concern” for these people. Might it be a bit about this oil?

    Don’t believe this feigned interest in helping the Venezuelan people. If Washington really cared about Venezuelans they would not be plotting regime change for the country, considering that each such “liberation” elsewhere has ended with the people being worse off than before!

    No, if Washington – and the rest of us – really cared about Venezuelans we would demand an end to the terrible US economic sanctions on the country – which only make a bad situation worse – and would push for far more engagement and trade. And maybe we’d even lead by example, by opposing the real, existing socialism here at home before seeking socialist monsters to slay abroad.

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      29 Comments

      1. Damn… Dr. Paul,

        Your hitting a million for a million so far…

        I can only wish that my fellow citizens weren’t so STUPID!!!

        Oh well, thanks Mac for giving him a Lil’ bit bigger audience. 😉

        Y’all play nice now, and enjoy the evening. 🙂

        • Ron Paul right again.

      2. 1. Venezuela and Saudi Arabia have a relatively equal population of 32 and 33 million.

        2. Venezuela has slightly more oil than Saudi Arabia with 300 billion bbls v 265 billion bbls.

        3. Saudi Arabia has extensive / expensive social programs for all of its citizens guaranteeing housing, food, education and medical care. Saudi Arabia also has a modern military that is also quite expensive along with an on going war in Yemen.

        The question is why is socialist Venezuela in such dire economic straights while Saudi Arabia is not? Maybe US economic sanctions play a significant role in this?

        • I been saying that for long time here. US Economic sanction have basically shut down the banking system in Venezuela, then the propaganda hacks like to blame it on socialism. Socialism is about the ony government left that is holding Venezuela together at the seams. You see the US Fascist Corporations just can’t stand the fact that a Government actually helps its people free of charge. Like in Libya, which was the most advanced society in all of Africa, had a marvelous clean drinking water system free for every Libyan and the Corporate fascist just think they need to monetize a free system. So Hillary and Obama had to go in there and bomb it all to hell. And displace all those African refugees into Greece and into Europe, destroying European sovereign countries purity. Hillary and Obama need to be beaten and dragged through the streets and shot for treason and crimes against humanity.

          Heck, just look at all the taxes attached to every Utility out there here in the USA. Phone Tax, Cable Tax, Water Taxes, Garbage Taxes, Police Taxes, Fire Taxes, Water storm taxes. Property taxes, sales taxes, income taxes, license taxes, fishing and hunting taxes, heat and gas taxes, fuel taxes, sugar tax, service tax, Federal Taxes, Corporate Taxes, profits taxes, import taxes, export taxes, Individual taxes, impact taxes, excise taxes, liquor taxes, pot taxes, etc.. Just getting started here.

          America, Land of the Fee and Home of the Slave.

          • TharSheBlows

            US Air Power supporting the Islamic Fundamentalists AL-Qaeda in Libya bombed among other things water and waste treatment plants. Why would that be a target? One must assume its because money would have to be borrowed to rebuild said facilities. A military explanation (regardless if you are on the wrong side) certainly isn’t plausible.

        • Have you been in orbit all this time?

      3. Good article Ron Paul.

        So, Venezuela is sitting on the largest oil reserve in the world. Is that it? America is being used to bully the world. Sanctions are making a bad situation worse. Ask Albright. Was it worth it? Five hundred thousand children dead because of our sanctions? Yes.

        Not so proud to be an American.

        _

      4. Venezuela is not a socialist country.
        It is an oligarchy as is America is
        becoming.
        We won’t have the same resource problems,
        but we will be under the control of a
        single party, a single El-Presidente nut case,
        a supreme court that rubberstamps the party,
        a legislative body, and a media that
        exists only to serve the party.
        (remember Obama?). That is the future
        of America if Democrats get in power again.

        .

        • rellik

          I’ll give you the analysis of the Democrats but if the best we have as an alternative is the Republicans we’re still in deep shit. “We” do not have a party of Constitutionalists.

          • “It is an oligarchy as is America is becoming”

            We have already achieved that status.

            h ttps://www.businessinsider.com/major-study-finds-that-the-us-is-an-oligarchy-2014-4

      5. witnessed the horrible spectacle of Nikki Haley joining a protest outside

        Sounds good to me…..

        neocon mindset: that somehow the US has the authority to tell the rest of the world how to live and who may hold political power regardless of elections.

        Sooooo…. The lesson of Hitler in WWII has been forgotten?

        What ever happened to “Never Again”.

        We have the power and the ability to stop human suffering and crimes against humanity, we should do it.

        Or we can be like Bill Clinton. Remember “how many acts of genocide does it take to make a genocide?”

      6. we have a senior US Administration official openly calling for the overturning of elections overseas

        Did Madureo not ban the opposition parties so that he was the only person on the ballot for the election?

        How is that not a dictatorship?

      7. Did I miss all the Americans protesting this warfare-welfare state socialism?

        Don’t be dissing the Democrats.

        Welfare state is the foundations of their political party.

        They will target Ron Paul now. He will be next on the #MeToo hit list.

      8. Just like the ongoing wars in the middle east, all for control of the oil is the first priority.

      9. Why all the neocon and humanitarian-interventionist “concern” for the people of Venezuela? One clue might be the fact that Venezuela happens to be sitting on the world’s largest oil reserves.

        No, it is because all those fuckers are flooding the American border. We don’t want them coming here, so we will have to fix their country so they will stay there.

        • John stiner

          The US in conjunction with the world banks have largely facilitated the economic catastrophe in Venezuela by the application of economic (warfare) sanctions. How can a nation with so much oil be in such economic dire straights? Because it can’t sell the oil. How can Saudi Arabia give its citizens a cradle to grave welfare system and maintain a modern military when Venezuela cannot even feed its people? Socialism? Saudi Arabia well classifies as socialist but they “play ball” with the banksters.

          • No.

            He can’t sell the oil because he nationalized the oil industry (stole it from private companies) now the equipment is all broken and none of the victim oil companies will go fix it.

            • John stiner

              Your correct and certainly not conducive for a thriving economy. Its the confiscation of private property and state control of the economy that defines socialism not a handful of social benefits that is typical of Northern Europe.

      10. considering that each such “liberation” elsewhere has ended with the people being worse off than before!

        That is just a fucked up statement.

        Republic of Austria, 1945 (reinstated constitution)
        France, 1945
        Norway (?)
        Japan, 1946
        Philippines, 1946
        Greece, 1946
        Italy, 1947
        Belgium – ?
        Netherlands, 1945 (reinstated constitution after WWII?)
        Republic of China (Taiwan) (year ?)
        Denmark, 1953 (?)
        Republic of [South] Korea, 1948
        Federal Republic of Germany, 1949
        Hawaii, 1959 (admission to USA as 50th state)
        Guam, 1970
        American Samoa, 1978 (elected Governor)
        Grenada, 1984
        Republic of Poland, 1989
        German Democratic Republic (East Germany), 1990
        Republic of Hungary, 1990
        Republic of Bulgaria, 1991
        Kuwait, 1991
        Iraqi Kurdistan, 1991 (date?)
        Lithuania, 1992
        Czech Republic, 1992
        Republic of Slovakia, 1992
        Latvia, 1994
        Kosovo, 2000
        Afghanistan, 2001
        Iraq, 2002-ongoing

      11. really cared about Venezuelans we would demand an end to the terrible US economic sanctions on the country – which only make a bad situation worse – and would push for far more engagement and trade

        engagement and trade would only give Madureo more power and control.

        • “engagement and trade would only give Madureo more power and control”

          Thanks for admitting that the US has impoverished Venezuela.

          Why can Saudi Arabia avoid a similar fate?

          • Kevin2, Venezuela was already suffering terribly before Trump came along but I can agree the sanctions are not helping. All of the neocons need to be taken out and eliminated before this country gets destroyed. Although I’m not a fan of Maduro or socialism, let Venezuela solve its own problems without any outsiders interfering.

            • If Saudi Arabia can do what it does providing a welfare state Venezuela could too as its resources and population is similar. The main difference outside (US) meddling. The damn Eastern Block that actually had to manufacture provided a standard of living for its people. A friends wife was from Belarus. They ate, they had an apartment, they got medical care, her dad had a few gold teeth. Venezuela has oil and lots of it.

      12. Its all about the USA created out of thin Air Digital Petro dollars.

      13. Yep get the corruption and swamp cleaned up here first and if Trump can do that then and only then should yet another intervención be considered.

        • No.

          Intervention is illegal according to international law. US intervention at this point is causing suffering. The “White Hat” if it ever was worn at all, has been discarded long ago in complete favor for multi national corporate / financial world domination that hasn’t worked in the best interests of citizens. Libya and Iraq are much worse off.

      14. The United States is very critical of Maduro and his pals. Venezuela’s institutions have pretty much collapsed and the country is under martial law. The United States must look at its procedures for handling a situation like this in this country. There have been a number of Executive Orders that strip the people of their rights and puts the Government in control of everything. Maduro is simply doing what the Government intends to do in the same situation. You shouldn’t condemn them when you’re planning to do the same thing!

      15. Venezuela has the largest oil reserves of any country.

        This statement is probably true (after all, reserves are an estimation and depend on the price of crude). The difference between Saudi Arabia and Venezuela is the quality of those reserves. Saudi has mostly light sweet crude and Venezuela has heavy sour crude that borders on bitumin.

        The US was in Venezuela at the beginning of the 20th century when they pumped out most of the good oil over the next 70 or 80 years. Most of what’s left is very expensive and labor intensive to extract.

        Sanctions prevent Venezuela from acquiring foreign investment to improve their infrastructure and for funding needed imports.

        The US has very expensive and labor intensive tight oil but they can fund the cost by printing FRNS. Tight oil is mostly a cash sink and unprofitable but when you can run massive deficits and have a Fed that provides ZIRP loans to roll over debt, it has been done…for the time being. Venezuela cannot do this since their currency is valued against the FRN and printing causes massive devaluation. Something that does not happen when you have the reserve currency that every other currency is valued against.

      16. SO, if America goes away, these socialist countries will be just fine. Yeah right!

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